Teen death shocks Greek society

Why this story matters:

Last Sunday, the 15-year-old boy returned from a party and called his parents, who were also out of the house, to make sure that they would be home late. His parents found him, hanging from the beam of a swing on the porch.

The police officers, who arrived immediately after receiving the call, examined the child’s room, where they found a diary.

“I want you to destroy those who destroyed me” allegedly said one of the entries, naming six persons and describing the harsh reality he faced every day in his school.

An urgent preliminary examination was ordered by the Chief Prosecutor's Office. The parents of the 15-year-old will be asked to testify, as well as the child’s classmates named in his diary, along with their parents and the school personnel.

His friends bid him farewell with a social media post against bullying: “Are you proud? Are you proud to have forced a child to feel that the only solution is suicide? Are you proud that a life was lost because of you? [...] We have been deprived of a friend, who was always there for us and cared for his friends and his family. And it hurts. It hurts a lot. Did you really have to push him to this point to understand that WORDS HURT?"

Details from the story:

The father of the 15-year-old has informally testified. He said he had no clue about what his son was describing in his diary.

The incident underlines the need for the state, the school and the families to be constantly alert to tackling this dangerous social phenomenon.

“The first objective and the first priority of the education must be respect for human life and, in general, the safeguarding of human rights. With an extremely competitive educational system, driven by an equally competitive society, with mass media and modern technology systematically providing a number of negative examples, it is not possible to secure this goal. We need to intensify our efforts both in the school environment and in the wider social environment,” said Pavlos Haramis, the vice president of the Institute for Educational Policy.

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